Beyond the $100 Billion Promise

Fatima Syed is a Mississauga-based journalist. She was the founding host of The Backbench podcast. She has worked for The Walrus, the Toronto Star, The Logic and National Observer, where she established the outlet’s Queen’s Park bureau, with an emphasis on coverage of environmental and energy policy. She is a National Magazine Award nominee, a Digital Publishing Award winner, and has contributed chapters to two anthologies published by Coach House Books—Subdivided: City-Building in an Age of Hyper-Diversity and House Divided. She is also the vice-president of the Canadian Association of Journalists. She was the winner of the 2022 World Press Freedom Canada Award.

Olaf Weber is a Professor at the Schulich School of Business and a CIBC Chair in Sustainable Finance. His research and teaching interests address the connection between financial sector players, such as banks, and sustainable development, as well as the link between sustainability and the financial performance of enterprises. His research focuses on the impacts of the financial industry on sustainable development, the role of voluntary and regulatory mechanisms for the financial sector to become more sustainable, social banking and impact investing, the materiality of sustainability risks and opportunities for investors, and artificial intelligence as a tool to analyze environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.

Laetitia De Marez is a Senior Principal/Director leading RMI’s Climate Finance Access Network (CFAN). Laetitia’s areas of expertise include climate diplomacy, international climate finance architecture, readiness and access to means of implementation, country programming, and project concept development. She is also experienced in training, organizational mapping, and national action plans in developing countries, as well as stakeholder coordination and engagement, including private-sector engagement and mobilization. Laetitia joined RMI in May 2021.

Prior to joining RMI, Laetitia led the work of Climate Analytics on international climate finance, capacity building, and implementation strategies in Caribbean and Pacific Small Island Developing States and in West Africa. Laetitia has deep experience supporting Small Island States and Least Developed Countries in the UNFCCC and Green Climate Fund Board negotiations. She has also supported developing countries’ institutions in building lasting capacity and piloting new approaches to unlock climate finance, through participatory processes including all key stakeholders from the private sector to local communities affected by climate impacts. Previously, she oversaw the work on NDC revisions in the Caribbean and West Africa.

Laetitia was the Director of the Climate Analytics New York office and Head of Office Development. Under her mandate, she supported the establishment of offices in Trinidad and Tobago and Nepal.

Laetitia is originally from France and has worked for Greenpeace France and Greenpeace International as Climate and Energy International Campaigner in the European Union and Southeast Asia.

Education
Master’s Degree, International Relations, Faculty of Law, Lille, France
Bachelor’s Degree, Political Science in Politics, Economics, and Society, Institute of Political Studies, Lille, France

Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and International Affairs Branch- Environment and Climate Change Canada

Michael Bonser currently serves as the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Policy and International Affairs Branch at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). Prior to this role, he served for one year as Director General, Multilateral Affairs and Chief Climate Negotiator, a position he held since September 2023.

Michael brings 24 years of experience from Global Affairs Canada, where he held numerous senior roles. His leadership positions included Director General, European Affairs (2022-2023), Executive Director of the G7/G20 Summits Team (2018-2022), Minister Counsellor and Political Coordinator at Canada’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York (2013-2018), and Director of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Response (2010-2013). Notably, he was part of the interdepartmental team recognized with the Public Service Award of Excellence in 2010 for Canada’s response to the January 12, 2010, Haiti earthquake.

Since 1999, Michael has held a variety of policy and management positions within Global Affairs Canada’s International Security Branch, where he developed a strong background in humanitarian affairs and international security policy.

Before joining Global Affairs, Michael served as a Legislative Assistant in the Parliament of Canada and worked in the non-profit sector, focusing on human rights advocacy and protection. Michael holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Acadia University and an Honours B.A. in History and Political Studies from Queen’s University. He has published several articles on humanitarian intervention and peacebuilding.

Founder & Managing Partner – Climate Finance Advisors

Jason Taylor, a capital markets professional with over 20 years of experience, founded Climate Finance Advisors, a global consulting firm. The firm collaborates with financial institutions, asset owners and managers, and universities. In recent years, Jason led the sustainable finance teams and strategy for two Canadian banks. He worked closely with various groups within the bank and capital markets to design multi-billion-dollar sustainable investment vehicles and solutions for investors, corporates, and governments.

Jason is an instructor in the Goodman Institute’s MBA-CFA investment management program, where he teaches sustainable investing. Students learn topics such as ESG integration, sustainable finance, environmental finance, social finance, and impact investing. In 2022, he co-designed the first environmental finance certificate in Canada for John Molson’s Education Centre, covering the finance of the natural elements (earth, water, air, nature). Jason advocates for using the power of capital to influence systemic change and contribute to building just, fair, and resilient communities.

Jason completed an MBA focused in sustainability, collaboration, and innovation management at McGill/HEC Montreal. He was named to the Poets & Quants 2019 100 Best & Brightest list. He is a CFA and CAIA charter holder, and is a board and investment committee member of the Foundation of Greater Montreal, an asset owner with a net-zero 2050 and impact investing objective.

Susan McGeachie is CEO of the Global Climate Finance Accelerator, which convenes partnerships across business, finance, government and academia on strategies, policies, procedures, and tools to finance the deployment of technically viable climate solutions. With over 20 years of experience in sustainable finance, Susan has held leadership positions in banking, management consulting, and engineering firms, as the Head of the BMO Climate Institute, Global Director of Climate Change and Sustainability at Hatch, and the Central Market Leader for EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice. Prior to consulting, Susan was a Director with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors (since acquired by MSCI) where she supported the firm’s asset owner clients on the integration of environmental, social, and governance factors into stock valuation and selection decisions. Susan started her sustainability career with WWF Canada in 2000 supporting the integration of biodiversity conservation in resource development.

Susan is an Executive-in-Residence and a member of the ESG Designation program faculty at the Rotman School of Management, and an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, teaching a graduate course in environmental finance and sustainable investing. She is also a member of the Climate Governance Experts panel and a former board member of the Canadian Responsible Investment Association. Susan was named to the Canadian delegation of COP 26 and 27. She was awarded one of twenty-six Canadian Climate Champions by the Canada Climate Law Initiative and the British High Commission ahead of COP 26. In 2014, she was named to the Clean50 and Clean 16 lists of practitioners, which recognize leadership in advancing the clean economy. Also in 2014, Susan received the University of Toronto Arbor Award in recognition of her work on the University of Toronto’s Environmental Finance Advisory Committee from 2006 to 2018.

Research Fellow – Public Finance, Development

Sébastien is a senior researcher at I4CE, where his research interests mainly focus on how public finance management tools can adapt to climate constraints and support climate action, embedding long-term climate commitments into budget management, taxation, and overall national financing plans, especially in emerging and developing economies. He joined I4CE after a Franco-Chilean PhD on modelling tools for energy planning in South America, and how climate impacts and climate action could reshape the future on the energy mix in the region, and on the contribution of Smart Grids and Smart Buildings to Europe’s climate and energy policy.

Sébastien is a graduate engineer from France’s École Polytechnique and holds a joint PhD from MINES ParisTech / University of Chile.